Electrical railway



(No'ModeL) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. 0. LOVE.

ELECTRICAL RAILWAY.

No. 381,395. Patented Apr. 17, 18 88.

Flay.

Jim/ C. Zovcv.

ail w 2 M PEYERS. Pholo-U'Uwgnphor. wammglun, DJ.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet a.

J. 0. LOVE. ELECTRICAL RAILWAY.

om o0 oo 1 N w \w I L p A d W0 b o h 9 J m M@ Q a Q 6 I I 1 o a w O w LP F. r a. r! v H i' o e a B 0 1 a a Q a n B 0 Q 5 9 1 1 00 d d 1 oo 3 0N I III I I I ||||l|1V .ll

John/Glove.

N. PETERS, Pholo-Lilhagnphnn Wathingmm D4 C UNITED TATES ATENT Fries.

JOHN C. LOVE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ELECTRICAL RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 381,395, dated April17, 1888.

Application filed October 4, 1887. Serial No. 251,437.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN G. Love, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certainImprovements in Electrical Railways, (Case A,) of which the following isa specification.

My invention consists of certain improvements in electric railways, moreparticularly of that class in which the conductors are carried inconduits underground; but some of my improvements may be applied toother constructions of electric railways.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of a carcontact-carrier, with the conduit partly in section, and a part of thecar being in section. Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse section of theconduit in which travels the contact-carrier, the latter being shown inelevation. Fig. 3 is asectional plan View of the carrier and conduit,drawn to an enlarged scale. Fig. et is a side view of the carrier in theconduit. Fig. 5 is a View of an arrangement for transferring from oneconduit to another. Fig. 6 is a diagram of the circuits, and Figs. 7 andS are views of a modification.

So far as my present invention is concerned, the car A and the electricmotor or motors thereon may be of any suitable construction and themotor may be mounted on the car at any suitable point. It has not beenthought necessary to illustrate this. In the present instance the car ismounted on a truck, A, at the front and wheels A at the rear, running onrails, as usual. The motor-man is intended to occupy the front platform,1?, and to have within his reach the switch or switches S, Fig. 1,turning the current or currents onto or cutting them oft from the motor,and in addition a lever or levers for controlling the contact-carrier B.In the present instance I have shown this contact-carrier B as mountedon the frame of the front truck of the car and as adapted to be movedvertically in guides therein. The lower part of the carrier, on whichthe contact-wheels are mounted, passes through the slot of the conduitD. This conduit is preferably placed or laid between the railway-tracks,and I prefer to make it of the construction illustrated more clearly inFig. 2--t-hat is, having flanged side pieces, (I, the

(No model.)

flanges of which approach each other at the top to form the slot, andwhich have large bases secured by cleats or bolts, or otherwise, tobase-pieces d. An open slot is left between the top flanges, f, of theseside pieces, and to the under sides of these top flan gcs are secured atsuitable intervals pieces or blocks F, of wood or other insulatingmaterial, to which line-conductors H are secured. In the presentinstance I have shown two of these wires on each side of the slot of theconduit, for purposes which I will explain hereinafter; but the numbermay be varied as found desirable.

I find it preferable to make the line-conductors of a round section andto secure them to the insulating-blocks under the roof of the conduit atthe opposite sides of the slot by means of brackets E. The conductorsmay be soldered, brazed, or otherwise suitably secured to the brackets.

The advantages of securing the conductors in the manner described arethat the liability of moisture creeping onto the wires and grounding thecircuits is greatly lessened, and the wires, being secured only atintervals, are free to expand and contract longitudinal] y between thecarrying-brackets.

The contact-wheels J on the carrier B are grooved, as illustrated inFig. 2, and bear up against the under side of the conductors.

' In order to allow for variations in the relative positions of theline-conductors, due to sagging or otherwise, I make each of thecontact-wheels free to move independently of the others to a limitedextent vertically, and I introduce springs which tend to lift eachindependent wheel up into contact at all times with its own conductor.For this purpose I mount each of the contact-wheels in a bracket or arm,h, hinged or pivoted to a block, B, on the lower end of thecontact-carrier and acted on at the other end by a suitable spring, 8,which tends to lift each contact-wheel upward against the correspondinglinecondoctor.

The block B at the lower end of the contactcarrier is of insulatingmaterial, or the several contact-wheels may beinsulated from each otherby other means, and each contact-wheel has in electrical connection withits arm a binding-post, p, to which is attached a conswitch is connectedwith the other pole of the motor by a conductor, 5. This stem B", inaddition to being guided in brackets K on the truck of the car, passesthrough the block B of the contact-carrier and is flanged atits lowerend. Aspring or springs, t, introduced between this flange and the underside of the block B, afford ayielding connection between the stem andthe block of the contact-carrier, in order to allow for anyjumping orupward swaying of the car in running on the rails. These springs arenot, however, necessary in all cases when a lever is used, as I will nowdescribe.

I put the contact-carrier under the'control of a lever in the hands ofthe motor-man on the front platform, in order that he may himself keepthe wheels up in perfect contact withthe line-conductors by a slightpressure on the lever, and so allow for jumping ofthe car. For

this purpose, as I have said, the stem of the contact-carrier is mountedin guides in the front truck of the car, so as to be free to be movedvertically therein, and to the stem is connected, as shown in Fig. 1, alink, Z, which in turn is pivoted to a bell-crank lever, Z, on thebracket K. The other arm of this bellcrank lever is connected through asuitable rod, r, to the lever L, pivoted to the body of the car, andhaving at its upper end a handle, -to be grasped by the motor-man. Byslight forward pressure upon this lever the contactwheels on thecontact-carrier can be at all times kept up in contact with theline-conductors in the conduit, notwithstanding any irregularitiestherein or vertical movements of the car when in motion. Furthermore,the motor-man can, by the same means andindependently of the switches,throw the motor out of circuit, if he so desires, in certain emergenciesby simply allowing the contact-carrier to drop down with the wheels alittle below the conductors.

In some cases it may become necessary to break the continuity of theconduit-as, for instance, at the terminus, or where the track crossessteam-railways. Under such circumstances I can, by the means abovedescribed, lift the entire contact-carrier out of the conduit, which atthe end approaching the steam-railway track is provided with an openinglarge enough to allow the contact-carrier to emerge. The car can then betraversed across the rail-. way-tracks by horse-power or other means andthe contact carrier then depressed into the open end of the conduit atthe other side. For such an emergency as. this I can provide forcrossing from one conduit to the other an overhead line, 0, Fig.5, incircuit with the conductors in the conduits D, and provided with theusual trolley, 0, running on the overhead line and having dependingconductors 5, which, as the carcomes to the end of the conduit, can begrasped by the motor-man and connected up with the motor, so that thecurrent will be supplied from the line-conductors to the motor throughthe overhead connection until the other conduit is reached.

To lift the contact-carrier B out of the conduit, I may use meansindependent of the lever L. In the drawings, Fig. 1, I have illustratedthese devices as consisting-of a lever, N, pivoted to the under side ofthe car and connected atone end to the stem of the contact-carrier, andhaving at the other end an upright rod, a, passing through the floor ofthe front platform of the car within reach of the foot of the motor-man,so that by pressing on this stem the contact-carrier may be lifted outof the conduit at the proper time. To allow for this full movement ofthe contact-carrier B without affecting the lever L, the link Z isconnected 'to the stem B by a pin entering a slot, q, in the stem andnormally at the upper end thereof. If preferred, but one lever may beused, as illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8, the former of which shows thecarrier as in position with its wheels incontact with the c0nductors,while Fig. 8 shows the carrier as lifted out of the conduit. In thisconstruction the lever L is shown as a bell-crank lever pivoted at q tothe truck, and having its lower arm connected by a link, 11, to the stemof the carrier.

In the drawings I have shown my electricrailway system as provided withfour conductors, l 2 3 4-two on each side of the slot; but this numbermay be increased or reduced. I prefer in all cases, however, to havethree or more of these conductors,whether the system .be an underground,surface, or overhead one,

with a corresponding number of contactwheels on the contact-carrier andconductors leading from these wheels to the switch or switches withinthe control of the motor-man, and thence to the motor on the car, sothat the motor on any car can be connected up with any of theline-conductors.

At the station I provide a separate electric generator, G, for eachoutgoing line-conductor, and by preference use only one return-wire, 4,common to the outgoing wires, as illustrated in the diagram, Fig. 6. Bythis means I provide a system in which a' great many more motors, M, canbe run than in the ordinary way, where only an outgoing and a returnconductor are used with one generator, for I can run a certain number ofcars on the circuit represented by the wires numbered 1 and it-- forinstance, a certain number on the circuit 2 and 4: and still others onthe circuit 3 and 4.

If desired, the conduit itself may be used as the return-conductor; butthis I do not prefer.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination of an underground conduit,carrying the line-conductors of an electrical railway in its upper'part, with a car having. guides, a contact-carrier vertically movablein said guides and provided with contacts adapted to be held up inelectrical connection with the conductors, and a hand-lever pivoted tothe car and connected to the said carrier to press the contacts upagainst the under sides of the conductors, substantially as described.

2. An electrical railway having three or more line-conductors, of whichone is a common return-wire and the others are outgoing wires, agenerator for each circuit, anumber of cars, each carrying a motor andcontacts for all of the several conductors, and a switch, with which theseveral contacts are in electrical connection, substantially asdescribed.

3. The underground conduits of an electrical-railway system and a carhaving the contact-carrier movable into and out of the conduit, incombination with an overhead line between the interrupted ends of theconduits, a trolley running on the overhead line, and dependingconductors 0n the trolley to be connected up with the motor on eachsucceeding car, all substantially as described.

In testimony whereofIhave signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN 0. LOVE.

Wi tn esses:

HARRY SMITH, HENRY HoWsoN.

